Myanmar is a tough cookie to crack. It’s just opening up to tourism, even as the government tries to avoid culpability for the Rohingya genocide. That’s a topic for a different article, but the international outcry has affected tourism and changed prices in the country.

Overall, Myanmar is a cheap place to visit - cheaper than its popular neighbor, Thailand. However, the one pickle is accommodation, which will often run you much more than any other Southeast Asian country. We’ll explain that below, as well as other prices to help you plan your budget.

*note we put the prices in Myanmar Kyat and US Dollar - the exchange is approximately 15000kyat to $1

Rooms

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Hostel bed: 7500 kyat/$5

Cheap Double: 17000 kyat/$11

We know, it doesn’t sound too bad - and it’s not! We’re just cheap, and used to being able to find fancy rooms for $10 in Thailand.

The problem in Myanmar is supply and demand. The government doesn’t allow too many new businesses to open and it’s hard to get licenses. So you don’t have a lot of ‘unofficial’ lodging. This is a pretty good thing for quality, but drives prices up.

The big problem is registration. Hotels are required to be registered and in turn register you as a guest so they can at least try to track you within the country. They really don’t want you putting your nose where they don’t want it. In general, it’s not a big deal - we stayed in unregistered places several times. But you should be careful.

Unfortunately, this means Airbnb and Couchsurfing aren’t extremely popular, though they do exist.

Camping is technically illegal. That being said, we camped four or five nights on the remote peninsula of Dawei. Otherwise, lodging is almost nonexistent there, and those that do exist are VERY expensive.

We heard wonderful stories of staying in pagodas coming to Myanmar. Indeed, there is free lodging in most temples. But something has changed. Either some tourists took advantage of the system and didn’t properly respect their hosts or the government cracked down. We stayed with one wonderful monk at a remote pagoda (we were fed and housed on bamboo mats and in return for helping him build a new wall - these arrangements were all figured out without the help of words). Everywhere else we were turned away. You should not bank on this.

We also stayed in one unofficial home stay. It was a wonderful experience and we felt comfortable because it was rural. However, be aware that families may get in trouble so you need to be very careful. The hope is to support locals not hurt them!

Busses

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Overnight Bus: 10000 - 20000 kyat/$6.5 - $13

Local Bus: 400 - 600 kyat/$.25 - $.40

There are so SO many overnight busses in Myanmar. It’s a good way to get around the pricy and limited hotel options. But we ended up regretting our choice to take so many. It just left us exhausted.

Prices vary on level of comfort, and there is a difference between tourist and local busses, although you don’t always have the option. Sometimes, you are not allowed on certain local busses as a tourist (mostly those headed to off-limits areas). There are occasional police checks.

You can absolutely bargain for prices and ask multiple sellers. This is Southeast Asia after all - often you are not buying directly from the bus station/company. In fact, resellers regularly offered us better prices than the busses themselves. Be aware routes do sell out.

Local busses are not common outside of cities, and it is particularly hard to figure out the schedule/location. You can wave down share mini busses, but sometimes no one on the bus will speak English. So have some sort of plan before you go!

Alcohol

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600ml beer in store: 1000 kyat/$.70

350ML Rum in store: 1000 kyat/

Beer isn’t extremely expensive, but it isn’t the cheapest either and isn’t absolutely everywhere like in Thailand. We barely drank in Myanmar, mostly because there isn’t any real nightlife and we wanted to save our money. It can be fun to have a quick drink with the locals, though, even if it can feel a bit… off. There aren’t many women drinking and it can be a uncomfortable at times.

Like a lot of other places, spirits are proportionately a lot cheaper.

Bike Rental

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Electric Rental: 5000kyat/$3

moped rental: 11000kyat/$7

1L Gas: 1000 kyat/$.70

This was a big part of our trip in Myanmar!

In Bagan, it’s possible to rent electric scooters and it comes highly recommended. They don’t make noise and don’t take gas. One charge easily got us tooting around the temples from sunrise to sunset - absolutely essential to get off the beaten path.

We also rented normal mopeds in Dawei, the south of the country. It’s really the only way to do things. Unfortunately, the regulations are again a massive problem. The government seems tipped on the verge of banning them all together. Thus, there’s a monopoly on mopeds and it’s more expensive than it should be.

We bought gas from gas stations occasionally, but more often in bottles on the side of the road. Sketchy? Maybe, but we didn’t have any trouble.

Finally, we rented bicycles in Inle lake for 1500 per day, which was a nice way to get out and about.

SIM Card

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SIM Card: Free

5G Data: 4500 kyat/$3

We’re not sure if we got some sort of crazy deal, but we got data in Myanmar for the cheapest price we’ve ever payed. We went for Telenor and purchased the package in Mandalay. Definitely a place to splurge for internet!

Water

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1L: 300kyat/$.20

Myanmar is one country where we didn’t drink the water, or even try to filter it. Unfortunate, but it wasn’t too pricy (though obviously not very sustainable).

Prepared Food

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Noodles: 600 - 1000 Kyat/$.40 - $.7

Fried Rice: 1000 kyat/$.7

We pretty much only ate noodles in Myanmar, and were surprised how tasty they were! Make sure to try Shan noodles in the north. There are curries on offer too, for similar or maybe slightly higher prices, but we didn’t think they were nearly as good. Also try Chinese if you can get it! It’s especially nice in Yangon.

They’re also dirt cheap. Like actually crazy cheap. One time, we paid 150kyat/$.10 for a small bowl. They’re usually a bit more than that, but you can still get good and tasty deals. For us, the cuisine wasn’t as tasty as Thailand or Malaysia, so we didn’t splurge much.

Be aware that because there’s minimal true budget accommodation, many hotels offer breakfast. Night busses will also have stops with good and cheap food - although not always, so bring some snacks if you can!

Groceries

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1kilo Mandarins: 2000kyat/$1.31

Pack of COokies: 3800kyat/$2.50

Because prepared food (i.e. noodles) were so cheap, we usually stuck to those, which is genuinely unusual for us. However, there’s good cheap fruit and vegetable for sale in markets and on the side of the road.

Be aware that you will pay a premium for imported foods and packaged western food. It definitely won’t be cheaper to make pasta with red sauce. When we went on a little road trip in Dawei, we brought a bunch of snacks. That was the most we spent on food our entire time there!

Site Entrance

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Inle lake: 15000 kyat/$10

Bagan: 25000kyat/$16

A little pricy, but nothing compared to very commercial temples like Angkor. Just be aware that most of the biggest sites in the country do have entrance fees. We were a little uncomfortable paying these, because it was some of the only money we spent that went straight to the government. Most everything else was paid to people.

Visas

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1 month visa (for US Citizens): $50

This is one of the few visas we’ve had to pay for in our travels, and it’s relatively pricy for a one month stay. Be aware, your country of residence may have a different price/procedure. However, most European countries are the same.

You have to get an E-visa in advance an pay in your own currency, so be ready for that! We saw people get turned away at the border, and that’ll cost you a lot more that $50.

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